THE government’s commitment to road safety has not been translated into reality as neither the Road Transport Act nor the projects taken to ensure road safety have yielded any tangible result while the country observes national road safety day today. This year’s observance of the day is the seventh in a row. The number of deaths in road accidents has, meanwhile, increased. The number is more than three times higher in Bangladesh compared with that in developed countries. At least 498 people died and 978 were injured in 493 road accidents in September, according to the Passenger Welfare Association. In 2023, at least 7,902 people were killed and 10,372 were injured in 6,261 road accidents, according to the organisation. The alarming state of road safety and the government’s poor commitment to it is evident from the sorry state of the biggest road safety project that the government took in April 2023. In a year and a half, the five-year multi-sector project, involving Tk 4,988 crore, has made almost no progress. The National Economic Council approved the project, meant to reduce fatality and injury in road accidents and enhance the road safety management capacity of the agencies concerned — on April 18, 2023, and the project is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2028. But the project is still in preparatory stages.

The project, which has a number of much-needed components such as an international road assessment programme on the 5,140-kilometre highways to find out safety deficiencies, the creation of an integrated traffic management and incident detection system on two highways and preparing a road safety audit manual, a four-month training programme for 60,000 new commercial drivers, training programmes for physicians, nurses and the police, the refurbishment of three hospitals and the purchase of 60 basic life-support ambulances, 40 motorcycle ambulances, medical equipment and 80 patrol motorcycles, has seen no physical progress while its financial progress is now 0.06 per cent. Even the survey for detailed design of the physical work has only begun, according to the project office. A project document identifies a lack of coordination among the implementing agencies for the delay in the progress in implementation. The project document also says that employees holding other responsibilities, ambiguities in procurement plans, codes and estimates, other components in the detailed project proposal and dependence on the onboarding of the project assistance consultant for all major components also hold back the progress. The project’s development partner, the World Bank, has, meanwhile, planned to withdraw $75 million from its agreed $358 million loan for the project.

The government should, therefore, make the required intervention, with the earnestness demanded of it, in time. The authorities should review the project and address the challenges and issues that are holding back the progress. The government should also enforce the Road Transport Act fully to ensure road safety.